“Without question, Ruth was terrific. But he was a natural ball player who did everything instinctively right. Cobb made himself the greatest by endeavor, by desire and by intelligence. Nobody studied every detail of the game more than Ty!”
FRED HANEY CLAIMS TY WAS GREATEST BY FAR
There were two out in the ninth inning of a late-season game that didn’t mean anything. Everybody wanted to see Cobb hit again and first base was open, so they put me on and the fans cheered.
I don’t remember what Ty did, but I always use this incident for my claim to fame.
Ty was the greatest. He was just so far ahead of everybody else that there was no comparison. They used to argue a lot—still do, I guess—whether Cobb or Babe Ruth was tops.
Without question, Ruth was terrific. But he was a natural ball player who did everything instinctively right. Cobb made himself the greatest by endeavor, by desire and by intelligence. Nobody studied every detail of the game more than Ty.
I’ve always said that I wish I knew as much baseball as he forgot.
He was a great manager. He took a bunch of punks and finished third in 1922, second in ’23 and third in ’24 when he should have been deep in the second vision.
Cobb was a wonderful fellow to play ball for—if you hustled and did your best all the time. If you didn’t he really jumped down your throat—spikes and all. He was very demanding, but quick to give you a pat on the back, too.
One thing, there never was a dull moment!